re: What is the weirdest building on your campus?

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Situated on the highest point of the original campus, Maxwell Hall was built as the first celestial observatory at The University of Alabama. It is one of the oldest observatory buildings in the United States. Through the efforts of Professor F. A. P. Barnard, the first section of the building was completed in 1844. Prominently visible today are both the 18 foot dome and the north-south ceiling aperture above the west wing. Under the dome, Bernard installed an eight-inch refracting telescope, and for the northwest aperture, he installed a transit circle, a telescope to measure the time of meridian passage and altitude of a celestial body.

During the burning of the campus in 1865, the observatory suffered greatly but was not destroyed. The doors had been forced open and most of the equipment had been ransacked and broken. Pieces of the telescope had been stolen by federal troops, but most of the remaining lenses were sent to Bryce Hospital for safe keeping. Because the observatory was the only surviving public building, it was used to store anything salvaged from the ruins of the University.

Simply known as the “old observatory,” the building did not get a name until 1986 when it was named in honor of retired University Consulting Engineer Fred R. Maxwell, who was responsible for protecting and preserving the remnants of the 1800s campus. Maxwell housed UA's Computer Based Honors Program before becoming home to Creative Campus.

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